What Is Love?
by nitoki
Summary: An encounter with his rival sparks up curiosity in the ebony hedgehog. One-shot.


**A/N**: Hello guys! This is just a random one-shot I thought of at 6:00 am in the morning when I was bored and wide awake, and well I thought I'd give it a shot and write it out since I'm currently bored! c: I know it's kind of a dumb title and an even cheesier plot, but you can't blame a girl for being bored, can you? If you're wondering why I chose this title then just know that it ISN'T written after the song, it's just the main... problem in the story. And chapter three for The Hedgehog Affray will come soon, I just need to find my inspiration for that story again, and I'll come to edit the current chapters eventually. I might start taking requests by the way if anyone is interested, R&R and I hope you all enjoy~!

* * *

**What Is Love?**

Shadow had been awake all night, his crimson eyes burning from lack of sleep. He couldn't seem to be able to fall into a peaceful slumber as he usually did each night, for something had been running through his endless thoughts all day. What is the cause of Shadow's insomnia this now you may call previous night, you might ask? The insistent interrogation from a certain azure speedster, that's what. Shadow didn't know the answers to the questions he had been asked earlier, for he himself had asked himself mentally from time to time without having the slightest luck of coming to a conclusion. He wanted to talk to someone about his thoughts, but he hadn't a clue whom exactly he could turn to in such a time of wonderment, for he didn't want to put himself in such an awkward position. Honestly though, Shadow was glad that someone had provoked those questions, but that didn't mean he was all that thrilled from _who_ had verbally asked these questions.

One person came to mind at who he could possibly turn to, but he tried pushing the thoughts aside for he thought the efforts would be in vain. But then again, this woman that came to mind wasn't like any other he'd ever met. In fact, she was the main reason why he couldn't seem to sleep. The questions he'd asked himself over and over again were because of her, and most of the answers he tried to conclude for each question had revolved around her. Maybe she could help him out, but then again she could make him seriously regret ever thinking of going to her in the first place in an instant. She was the only person who he had ever really seemed to tolerate, so Shadow thought it _might_ just work out in the end.

He grunted at the almost embarrassing moment he had with the blue blur earlier. It was almost enough for Shadow to go and hide under a rock for the rest of his endless life. Boy, how that hedgehog got on his nerves...

* * *

_Flashback_

_He knew what he wanted to ask him, but he wasn't quite prepared to formulate any kind of answer, nor did he even want to._

_"What motivates you, Shadow? Like, there's a reason why you wake up and get out of bed every morning right? There's a reason why you fight?" _

_"That's what all living, breathing creatures do at the start of every sunrise; awake from their night's rest. And all creatures must fight to fend for themselves in such a cruel world that they unfortunately must live in." Shadow snorted in annoyance. He was irritated that the cerulean idiot would actually have the audacity to ask the Ultimate Life Form such a trivial question, but he himself had been asking himself the same questions everyday. _

_"I know that!" Sonic cried out. Did Shadow think he was _really _that stupid? "What I'm asking is..." Sonic stopped his sentence short. He didn't quite know how to word out the next question without having his dark counterpart confused or outraged by his choice of words. _

_"Asking me what, moron? Are you trying asking me what is the reason behind my everyday actions? If there is something that keeps me going everyday?" Shadow replied, clearly agitated by the hedgehog's hesitance and stupidity._

_"Yeah!" Sonic beamed, which in return Shadow rolled his eyes. "Is there something that gives you hope and faith everyday, Shadow?" Sonic was getting more annoying with each word that flew out of his mouth. These were personal questions, so why did Sonic even want to know? _

_"That is and should be none of your concern." Shadow replied simply with a tinge of venom lingering in his voice. _

_The hedgehog was starting to annoy Shadow beyond belief. It was taking all of his strength to stop himself from beating his skull in right then and there. _

_"...Do you do the things you do for the things you love?" Sonic asked ever so bluntly and straight to the point._

_"Putting love behind the actions you chose to commit is foolish. You do things that makes the most sense to you, and that hold the most rationality above everything else." Shadow rolled his eyes at Sonic's childish question.  
_

_"You don't love for your friends?" Sonic raised a nonexistent eyebrow at Shadow's stubbornness. _

_"No." _

_"Do you love anything at all?" Sonic was started to get annoyed at Shadow beating around the bushes with his questions, but he once never really lost his patience, which was surprising since he was one of the most impatient beings to have ever existed._

_"I need no such thing in my life. Love only gets in the way of things." Shadow breathed as he softly growled. Things were starting to get a little too personal for his liking. _

_"Love is the best thing in the world! It makes you stronger, it makes you feel more accomplished! It makes you happy! It makes you a better person!" Sonic nearly screamed as he flailed his arms wildly in the air. Surely Shadow knew that! Gerald did program him with a heart, did he not?  
_

_"Love is for fools. It makes you weak, and it makes you vulnerable." He snapped almost viciously as he turned his back on the bewildered hedgehog and started to walk down the path in the park on which he traveled down earlier, until he was stopped by the blue moron. _

_"Don't you love Rouge?" Those words made Shadow stiffen and stop walking for the moment being. He never associated those two things with each other; love and Rouge. He was scared and somewhat shy to bring himself to actually do it. _

_"What did you say?" Shadow threatened as he slowly turned to look back at the grinning fool. Sonic knew he was crossing the line bringing the bat into things, but it was the only way he would get any answer at all from the stubborn hedgehog, so it seemed. _

_"I **said**, don't you love Rouge?" Sonic loudly asked as he took a step forward. "I mean come on, you're always with her, dude. You two do everything together! Don't you ever do anything because of her?"_

_"She's just my friend. I wouldn't ruin our friendship with such a stupid thing." _

_"It wouldn't ruin anything between you two, it would only make things better for you two. She'll make you a stronger person, Shads. She can really help ya out if you just let her. She cares a lot about you, and I know you care a lot about her too." Sonic softly reassured the crimson tainted hedgehog._

_Shadow remained silent as he gave Sonic one of the dirtiest looks he could muster. His thoughts then began to travel to a familiar bat._

_"What kind of love are you talking about?" Shadow dared to asked as he looked down at the ground. Sonic's eyes widen with shock, and then smiled with relief._

_"The good kind of love."_

_End of Flashback_

* * *

Those words hit Shadow like a rocket as realization dawned on him like the sun rising in the morning. Did he... _love_ Rouge? Sure, he cared about her and he enjoyed having her around, but that surely didn't mean anything, did it? He didn't even really know what love was, since he never really was succumbed by the emotion. How could he associate her with something that was foreign to him? But it seemed that if he was going to make any progress with this little problem of his, that he was going to have to find out what love was. Shadow wasn't quite prepared to find out just what exactly it entailed...

The sun was halfway over the horizon by now, and surely Rouge had to be awake by this time. He trudged along her apartment to her room, and brought his hand up to knock on the door. Suddenly, a wave of regret and nervousness washed over him like a tidal wave. What if he was making a big mistake? He didn't have that long to think, for the door to the huntress' room opened up, revealing a half awake, half dressed Rouge. His cheeks started to warm up as she smiled at him and didn't even try to walk past him, it was almost as if she wanted to see him to begin with.

"Why, hello sunshine." She smiled, rubbing one of her eyes.

He didn't say anything in return, he didn't even acknowledge her presence. His eyes that shone with new found nervousness bored into her own sleepy orbs, just making him feel all the more bashful.

"Did you need something, Shadow?" She soothingly asked as she unconsciously inched closer to his face with her own, trying to get a better look at his eyes as if she could find out why he was here in the first place just from doing that.

He didn't say anything, or didn't even move out of her way. She was starting to become nervous since he was just standing there like a statue, staring at her without blinking even once.

"Shadow, are you-"

"I need to ask you something." Her ears perked up at the urgency in his voice. She then smirked and leaned against the door frame smugly as she crossed her arms over her chest, raising a nonexistent eyebrow in the process as she now clearly saw that he was a nervous wreck, just waiting to crash.

"Well you know me, Shad, I'm all ears." She pulled at one of her rather large ears, trying to get him to smile. He ever so slightly smirked as his serious yet sheepish look faded away for a moment, but then it came back just as soon as it left.

"I've been wondering for sometime, now..." He breathed slowly. She tilted her head just a bit, she had never seen Shadow so unsure and doubtful before.

"...What love is." He blushed again as he saw a look of shock cross her features. He knew this was a bad idea.

"Well, um, Shadow... there's different types of love. But, I'm assuming you mean love in general?" Her eyes narrowed just a little out of pure curiosity as to why he would ask her such a question, especially when it was still so early in the morning. Couldn't he at least wait for her to get dressed?

"No. I-" his voice got caught in his throat. She slightly nodded her head, gestering him to go on.

"I-I know what love in general is. It's just... I don't know what kind of love goes on between two people." His flushed face grew hotter as his embarrassment increased tenfold.

Her eyes widened as she moved herself off of the door frame, now standing erect. Why, out of all the things he could've asked her, did it have to be _that _question?

"Shadow..."

"Please, I have to know." He boldly pleaded, trying to push this shyness away. She knew he was being serious, since he never said please. He always demanded, not asked.

"Well," She gulped, trying to find the right words. She would have to break it down for him as a mother would explain something complicated to her young child, since he in a way still was naive about most things in life. It wasn't going to be an easy task, since she always felt uneasy just thinking about Shadow that way.

"For a start, love can happen between any two people. There's not really a way you can tell if you're actually _in _love, though. It's just an assumption that you make."

"Any two people?" He now was staring at her intently, which made her feel a bit uneasy.

"Yes, it can happen between two males, two females, or a male and a female." She stepped to the side and gestured him to come into her room, which he complied to without any hesitation.

"Really? And you say there's no way you can tell if you've come down with it or not?" She giggled at his last few words, he made it sound like love was a deadly disease you catch and die from. It was ironic, for it was the complete opposite.

"Precisely. If you know the basic details of what love is, then it should be easy to tell if you're in love with someone or not." She sat on the edge of her bed, with Shadow standing directly in front of her, looking down at her like a lost puppy looking for guidance.

"What exactly does it entail, then?" He now sat on the bed next to her, never once taking his eyes off of her.

"Well, you feel comfortable around them, that's for sure! You feel as if you can tell them anything that's on your mind." She clasped her hands together and girlishly blushed.

"You don't say...?" He asked in an almost distant tone, clearly thinking thoroughly about her words.

"Yes. You enjoy their company more than anyone else's and when you're with them, you don't care about anything else." She stared at the doorway and smiled almost dreamily.

"You feel happy when you're with them. And all you want to do is just be with that person." She now turned to face him and mustered a shy, yet stunning smile which made his cheeks warmer.

"Is... that all?" He looked deep into her aquamarine eyes, still processing her words in his mind.

"You feel incomplete when they're away, and you miss them more than anything when they're gone..." She looked down at the pink carpeting in her room, lowering her ears.

Little did they know, they were both thinking about each other at that moment. They both inched closer to each other unconsciously, sitting a mere hairs length away from one another.

"Anything else...?" He looked at the spot at the floor she seemed to be gazing at and leaned towards her. He wanted her to look into his eyes so he could tell that she was telling him only the truth, and that she wasn't making anything up. What she was telling him made him think of her... he didn't want any of it to be unreal. At the same time, he was scared. It was starting to all make sense to him now. He didn't want things to change between them, but at the same time he wanted more.

She chose then to look up at him, and her eyes were filled with so much emotion, it was almost too much for Shadow to bare.

"You'd do anything to keep them from leaving. You would want to risk it all if it meant keeping them safe, and you'll always wish to the heavens above that they never left you for anyone else... you'd want them to always be with you." There faces were only a mere inch apart now, both of them looking deeply into each other's eyes, looking into their souls to find the answers to all their questions.

"Do you love me?" He whispered as he involuntarily moved his face closer to hers; both of their faces were stained with a light crimson.

She held her breath and looked down at her lap as she bit her lip, suddenly becoming as shy and bashful as a young school girl.

"I do..." Her ears lowered and her eye lids almost fell shut, as if she were ashamed to even tell him.

"Well I know one thing for sure," He placed his thumb under her chin, and made her look into his glistening eyes that also were filled with emotion.

"That I love you, Rouge." Her eyes widened as her ears perked up, for she was pleased and shocked at the same time to hear those words that's she's been longing to hear for so long, come out of his mouth finally.

Tears threatened to fall freely from her eyes, but she didn't want him to see her as weak. She didn't want to ruin this almost trance like moment.

"Shadow..." She placed her hands on the sides of his face and smiled warmly as he did the same. They both simultaneously closed the space between their faces and closed their eyes as their lips touched.

They both pulled away from each other and looked into each others eyes once again.

He smirked and placed his hands on her warm cheeks. "Don't worry, it's the good kind of love."

* * *

**A/N:** I know Shadow seems to be OOC at the end, but I for one don't really mind. I'll correct any mistakes if I find any.


End file.
